


Once Upon a Time

by pssychotropical



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU: they all work at a publishing house, Jealousy, M/M, Threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 01:30:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20322874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pssychotropical/pseuds/pssychotropical
Summary: Jaehyun and Taeyong are working out the problems in their relationship and having a hook-up with Jaehyun's co-worker.





	Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, there was a man called Jaehyun who lived in a big house on a big cliff where the air smelled of ocean salt and the wind sucked the lace curtains in and out of the ceiling-high windows...

Jaehyun finishes the last whisker on the cat's face and puts down his pencil. Sometimes he wonders if it's weird how in the moments of silence he thinks about himself in the third person, like he's one of the characters in the children's books he draws the illustrations for. He looks over his sketchbook, forward, to where Taeyong is spread on the sofa, one leg up and bent, foot propped against the other leg's thigh. He's flipping through a furniture catalogue, even though his pensive expression gets you to think it must be a volume of classical poetry.

In his big house, with big windows and on a big cliff, the man lived with someone he loved the most in the entire world and wouldn't exchange for anything...

Becoming conscious of the stare that Jaehyun's landing on him, Taeyong puts the catalogue down. They're facing one another: Jaehyun from the desk, Taeyong from the sofa opposite to the desk, a big flower-patterned carpet between them, green like a meadow. Taeyong sighs loudly.

"Are you still mad at me?" he goes, and his voice has nothing to do with being apologetic or embarrassed. Those are two things Taeyong never is. In children's books, characters like him meet an obstacle and overcome it, they learn a lesson and change their ways. Rabbits start saying sorry, foxes now respect other people's needs. Taeyong's Taeyong. "I know you wouldn't tell me, but you've already told Johnny."

Jaehyun rolls the pencil between his fingers. "And he's told you?"

Taeyong doesn't need to respond. He changes his pose; now he's lying flat on the sofa, his head against the sofa's arm, eyes looking up at the ceiling, one leg crossed at the ankle against the knee. The reason Jaehyun pays so much attention to it is the human anatomy classes. He's always loved drawing human body. "I was drunk and I didn't mean it. I've already said that I'm sorry." He hasn't.

Jaehyun takes his both hands off the sketching desk. He stretches his arms, almost theatrically, and allows a smile to pass through his lips; in one corner of them, there's a bit of purple paint because part of his illustrating process is gnawing on pens, markers and paint brushes. Maybe it's not a fully fleshed apology and reconciliation moment but it's as close to it as it gets. Jaehyun likes to think he knows Taeyong just enough, the way he knows the anatomy of the forest animals that he usually draws.

They lived in the big house together, and everything seemed to be a fairytale until one day...

Three days ago, to be exact. Jaehyun had just fixed Taeyong a job as a publicity assistant and Taeyong really wanted to see what the opening day of a newly released book looked like, the sort of event Jaehyun had always skipped before. Taeyong said, "Don't let them ever tell you you're less of an author than the writing guys. Illustrations are fucking crucial." So willy-nilly, Jaehyun agreed.

One of the biggest bookstores in the vicinity, Jaehyun was seated right beside the writers, a microphone in his hand. Answering questions and smiling to the kids who gathered with their parents by their side, Jaehyun felt like he really didn't want to be there. He managed to survive for the after party: the adult part of every children's book release celebration. Jaehyun, the writing guys, some other workers from the publishing house he hadn't ever spoken to and among them the new editor, guy in charge of commas and spelling. Why Jaehyun paid him special attention were those big lips, big eyes, big hands. He was almost a cartoon character, if only he wasn't so damn sexy too. The moment they met, as Taeyong's eyes landed on him for the first time, when they greeted, hands shaking, smiles exchanged, Jaehyun felt like the jealous boyfriend he probably was. Skip forward, bar, everyone drinking. Taeyong always drinks too much no matter the occasion, an excuse as good as any other. Three hours into the night, Jaehyun's tie undone, shirt four buttons undone as well, willing to come back home any second now, he walked into them kissing in the men's bathroom.

"Tell me when you're done silent treating me," Taeyong goes. He puts the furniture catalogue on top of his face, then crosses his arms. He's going to take a nap because it's weekend now in their beautiful place at the edge of a cliff where Jaehyun's sketches of cute birds and little smiley insects are taped to every wall in every room.

Jaehyun tries to get back to work on the cat's face. It still needs a pair of eyes and ears but Jaehyun's mind drifts away from it, as he can't stop wondering if he should really let it slide like this. It's just a kiss and Taeyong said he's sorry. As sorry as he's physically capable of being.

In general, Jaehyun doesn't spend much time in the publishing house. The only occasions on which he comes with a visit are to discuss an upcoming project with its author, then bring it done to the office and finally argue about the requested changes. The relationship between the writer and the illustrator can be an antagonistic one, just as, Jaehyun assumes, the relationship between the writer and the editor. Speaking of editors, he bumps into one as he carries a bunch of finished sketches under his arm, hands in the pockets of his jeans, hunched as if that trick alone guarantees him invisibility from his co-workers. Turns out it doesn't.

It's the big-eyed, big-smiled guy from the company party.

At first, Jaehyun makes an attempt at turning left and passing him by, but that's the guy's idea as well.

"Hey, Jaehyun," he goes, facing Jaehyun, and his voice is just as loud as his mouth is big.

"Hey," Jaehyun goes, and then pauses meaningfully.

"Yukhei," the guy prompts without any visible disappointment by Jaehyun's lack of memory. Jaehyun doesn't bother repeating the name, neither aloud nor in his head. "I wanted to say sorry about what happened last time--"

"Don't worry. It happens a lot."

Yukhei's eyebrows drop with suspicion but also like he's relieved. "It does?"

"No, it doesn't."

Jaehyun takes a step to the right, Yukhei mirrors the move. He's one of those guys who laugh when they don't know what to do, and Jaehyun isn't. At the back of Jaehyun's mind there's still the image of that night, the exact pose in which the guy's big veiny hands were wrapped around Taeyong's wrist, arm, thigh, ass, like a damn grape vine up onto which the miniature characters in the story climb, looking for a golden key that opens a golden door or a magical bean that gives them magical powers.

"I feel really stupid about it. Not the best first impression I could make, right?" Jaehyun doesn't respond but it's obvious he agrees, so Yukhei lets himself continue, "I get it, you're angry, that's understandable. I think you should be. I just wanted to say that I hope you won't hold it against me for too long and that we'll have a good time... working together."

"Totally..." Jaehyun pauses, vaguely aware that the number of times he'll see the man again must be smaller than the number of his fingers. But freshly employed Taeyong, on the other hand, that's a whole different story. He probably works one office away from what's-his-face.

Once again, the man supplies politely, "Yukhei."

"...Yukhei." This time Jaehyun makes sure to repeat the name.

Once upon a time in a big house upon a cliff lived a beautiful human who woke up for the sunrises and whose bleached blond hair was unacquainted with the comb. From the open windows of the house, the rectangles of bright light fell onto his figure as it waltzed down the creaking stairs, white paint peeling off of them. He smelt of strawberry and peppermint tea. You could find him seated on the windowsills and standing in the door frames, on the verge of leaving the house or as if he's just stepped in, reaching with his gaze somewhere farther away, over the horizon...

The reason they're in this house right now, of all the other places, is that it was Taeyong's dream at some point in his life. Old wood, green space, wind carrying the sound of waves crushing against the stone. Taeyong's a bunch of plans and dreams, most of which don't seem achievable to someone like Jaehyun. Before the house on a cliff, there was a flat above a coffee shop, and before that, there was a studio with no furniture but a lot of dust. He doesn't have a stable job because he's scared of being chained to one place, and instead keeps quitting and changing. Jaehyun's publishing house is his latest place of temporary employment.

Ten am, he walks into the kitchen. As he leans in to pick up one of Jaehyun's toasts with honey spread on top, he lets Jaehyun land a kiss on his cheek. Kisses mean it's been a week since the company party and the silent treatment following it. He takes a seat on the opposite side of the kitchen island, and as he chews on the toast, cross-legged, there's a pensive expression on his face, like he's about to say something but still rolls the words around his tongue.

"I've talked to Johnny," he starts at last, the usual opening statement. Johnny's like a messenger child, bringing news from one angry parent to the other. "He's surprised to see you in the office this often. So am I."

Jaehyun sucks the honey from the tip of his index finger, eyes fixated on Taeyong's face. "Am I not welcome in my workplace anymore you want to say?"

Taeyong sighs loudly. Arms crossed, he leans against the kitchen island. "Okay, Jaehyun, we gotta talk. For the last week you've been in a very pissy mood. Even for your own standard."

"Thanks."

"So what's this about? Talk to me." Already expecting Jaehyun not to provide an answer, even before Jaehyun makes this decision, Taeyong continues, "Is it because now I'm spending more time at the company than you do, and I talk to your colleagues, and it gets you feeling territorial?" When Jaehyun opens his mouth, Taeyong lifts a hand to silence him. "Let me finish." Jaehyun closes his mouth. "Or is it the other thing. You're angry because you're feeling possessive because I'm spending time with that new guy you remember me kissing with when I was drunk?"

Jaehyun winces. "Thanks for the reminder, I really needed that right now." He wipes the crumbles off of his hands and picks up his drawings from the island, about to slip out of his seat.

"No hiding behind the sketchbook, babe. Which one is it?"

A pause. Fighting with the thoughts in his head, Jaehyun finds himself defeated and then pacified by Taeyong's expectant stare.

"It's both." Taeyong's stare grows piercing. "Okay, if you want us to be real honest, it's this guy. You're working in the same damn office and I hate it."

The expression on Taeyong's face changes once again. He's amused but also a bit flattered, or so it seems to Jaehyun.

"Jealous Jaehyun. I knew this would happen at some point." He reaches across the island, takes Jaehyun's hand into his own and caresses it. "The fact that I'm attracted to Yukhei doesn't change anything because I'm not going to act on it," he says in his softest voice.

And then. The moment his words sink in, and his fingers freeze midway through caressing, Jaehyun's eyebrows drop and he takes his hand away from under Taeyong's.

"What did you just say?"

"You're not gonna convince me you've never looked at other guys while being with me."

"Looking at guys isn't equal to being attracted. What do you mean 'attracted'? This is how you're telling me you're planning to have sex with him?"

Taeyong makes a chuckle which is ill-disguised annoyance. "You wanted us to be honest so I am. I can be interested in other people sexually. It doesn't mean anything."

"And I think it means a fucking lot."

As if to tame the growing tension and make the conversation seem like less of a big deal, Taeyong theatrically picks up another toast and spreads honey on top. Jaehyun doesn't budge. He's studying Taeyong's every move now. "Being in a relationship, no matter how good it is," Taeyong explains, "does not mean that I'll suddenly stop being attracted to other people, Jaehyun. And also, just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean that you have to be everything I need, sexually and otherwise."

"So now you're saying it's my fault because I'm not satisfying you sexually?"

Giving up on the toast, Taeyong's the one who stands up from the kitchen island first. "I'm not continuing this conversation. You cool down and then we can talk."

Once upon a time, there was a man who cruised through the offices in his garish palm beach shirts, with booming laughter that echoed off the walls. Everyone that talked to him seemed to like him, and his smiles made everyone smile back...

It's Johnny who stops Jaehyun on his way to the editorial office. One hand holding a plastic cup of espresso, the other in the pocket of his brown, ill-tailored suit, he coughs and this way draws Jaehyun out of his thoughts.

"Don't think that I don't know why you keep coming here every day," says Johnny's voice behind Jaehyun's back. Unlike Yukhei whom you can locate by following the sounds he makes even from outside the building, Johnny seems almost conspiratorially quiet. When they're in the publishing house, he's Jaehyun's superior and tries to act like one. Technically.

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. "I work here too."

"This control freak mode doesn't really flatter you, arsehole."

"It's not about--"

"I've known you for years, Jaehyun. Not the first time this side of you shows up," he comments and clicks with his tongue. Using the plastic cup, he motions for both of them to come into his office, so that's what they do. "Seriously, do you not trust him?" he asks, as soon as they're inside.

"If you don't want me here this bad, maybe you could--"

"I'm not going to spy on Taeyong, that's one thing. The other is, there's no need." He sits on top of his desk and crosses his legs at the ankles. He takes a gulp of his coffee. "I've talked to him. He knows that you take things a bit more seriously than he does. And he's really sorry."

A pang of guilt hits Jaehyun immediately and settles down in his stomach. "I hate it when you're right." He sighs and presses his back against the wall, like he's now trying to become one with it, blend himself into it like an apparitional creature out of ghost stories.

Johnny's eyebrows show that he's not fully convinced yet. "As your boss and as your friend too, I'm asking you to come back to your fairytale land house and draw me the damn jazz club mice. You're three days behind with this commission," he says, pointing with his cup at his desk calendar.

Jaehyun comes up to him and puts a paper bag right beside where Johnny's butt is seated. "Fine. Give this to Taeyong."

"And what is this?"

"His bio-life kale and mint smoothie." When Johnny raises his eyebrows, he adds, "He's forgotten it on the kitchen counter."

Once upon a time, a man called Jaehyun grew real jealous of that other guy wearing garish palm beach shirts and kissing other people's boyfriends...

Jaehyun should seriously stop thinking about himself like he was a children's book's protagonist.

Seconds after leaving Johnny's office, he finds himself standing right in front of the editorial office the next corridor; perhaps some magical force have led his steps towards it. Through the window in the door, to which the words 'editorial office' are glued, he searches for the owner of the stentorian voice.

And there he is.

Today's garish shirt hugging the contours of Yukhei's well-built chest is a tropical jungle coloured sunset orange and bleak green, dried grass and wild flowers. Yukhei's standing with the phone placed in the crook between his shoulder and neck, one hand playing with the phone's cable and twirling it around the thumb. The skin of his cheeks against the white receiver looks suntouched, as if he's just left the tropical jungle inside his shirt. He's half listening to his interlocutor, his eyes wandering around the office, so distracted he notices Jaehyun's presence almost immediately. He lifts one hand and waves at him hello, long fingers with big silver rings.

That's the whole problem. He's so handsome even Jaehyun knows that. You can't unnotice it.

The phone call quickly finished, Yukhei opens the door and now they're standing face to face, Yukhei's face a bit too close for Jaehyun's liking.

"Can we talk for like a second?" Yukhei asks.

Coming inside, Jaehyun looks around the office, as if expecting to spot Taeyong hidden behind a desk or a shelf. Immediately after this thought, he feels embarrassed, realising just how stupid it sounds, even in his own head.

"Okay, listen, Jaehyun. I think I've noticed."

Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. He redirects his gaze from one of the empty desks towards Yukhei, hands shoved into the pockets of his grey coat so nobody can see if he balls them into fists. "You've noticed what?"

First, Yukhei smiles and drops his stare to the floor. Then, he looks straight ahead, at Jaehyun. He leans against the door. "You keep checking up on me, coming to talk without a reason. And staring at me. Angrily, for the most part. At least that's what I thought." When Jaehyun doesn't respond, not having anything to say, really, Yukhei continues, "Is it because of Taeyong?"

Jaehyun is just so tired of having everyone ask him about Taeyong and imply that he's an awfully jealous boyfriend to him.

"I'm not doing anything and the non-existent thing you've supposedly noticed has nothing to do with Taeyong."

Yukhei fixes the watch on the wrist of his left hand. He continues speaking as if Jaehyun hasn't said a word. "I hope you don't mind us working together after... you know."

"I don't."

"You don't?"

"I want you to spend as much time with Taeyong as you want. It's all fine with me."

From this close, Yukhei's silhouette seems to invite Jaehyun's contemplative stare for further analysis: of Yukhei's collarbones showing from underneath the shirt, of the sharp line of his jaw and the tendons on his neck. Like he's a sitter to practice human anatomy drawing on.

Yukhei clears his throat and Jaehyun watches his Adam's apple move. "Jaehyun."

"That's my name."

And then he says it. "If you're trying to set me up on a threesome with the two of you, go ahead." Seeing the surprise on Jaehyun's face, he smiles and quickly adds, "I happen to have some experience with guys like you."

When Taeyong storms into the house, he finds Jaehyun hunched over his sketchbook, drawing the band of jazz mice running down the sewer, their small faces contorted with cartoon terror. He's seated with his back to the door, face towards the open windows, so he doesn't see Taeyong, only hears the anger through his rapid steps and the way he throws his coat onto the dining table.

"Jung Jaehyun," Taeyong says, his voice difficult to extract specific emotions from.

Jaehyun adds a bit of yellow to the striped suit of one of the jazz mice, and hears Taeyong arrest his steps somewhere behind Jaehyun's back. He puts the paint brush down.

"Jung Jaehyun," Taeyong repeats, and only as he has Jaehyun looking him in the face, his full attention on himself, he starts speaking for real. "Guess what happened today. I came to work to learn that you've set us up for a threesome."

It's a speech Jaehyun has been preparing and perfecting in his head for the last few hours, over the span of seven jazz mice drawings, but as soon as he says, "Listen--" Taeyong cuts him short.

"No, you listen. You can't set up shit without setting it up with me beforehand." Jaehyun stands up from his stool, raising both hands in a surrending gesture, the white sleeves of his shirt dirty with paint. Taeyong's voice seems to grow louder with each word, "Second of all, why would you do this? You fucking hate the guy. I know you and I know this isn't something you would want."

Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. "And how do you know that?"

"Are you being serious now? You want to have sex with the editor?" Taeyong pronounces the word like it's an insult.

"Why do you think you know what I want, Mr 'my big dreams and plans'?"

Taeyong takes no notice of his words. "You're the guy who got mad for two days straight when a total stranger landed his eyes on me in a bar. And I didn't even look back at him. You got mad because of a stupid drunk kiss. How do you imagine inviting someone into our bed?"

"You've said it yourself. You're attracted to the guy and you would have sex with him if you had an opportunity. There it is."

"We're not talking about me right now."

"We're always talking about you." Once upon a time, Jaehyun found it endearing the way Taeyong talked about himself and his great plans for the future. Maybe because Jaehyun wanted to be part of every single one of them, like a main protagonist of a story, and he made all possible efforts to let them come true. But this evening, he's just pissed off. "Also, a quick reminder that you told me about the group sex thing that you had in the past, which you made sure to call your 'best and most liberating sexual experience'."

Taeyong makes a surprised face, as if he himself has forgotten about this story and hasn't expected to be ever reminded of it, especially not by Jaehyun. Then, his eyes narrow to slits. "We were telling each other secrets. I didn't say it for you to use it as an argument and shame me with it."

That's not the response Jaehyun has been expecting. But to be fully honest, Jaehyun doesn't know what he's expecting or what he's trying to achieve at this point. "I'm not shaming you," he says, almost offended by this accusation. The next sentence gets out of his mouth before he even considers it, "I told you how much it turns me on that you've done this."

A moment of tense silence.

Taeyong doesn't have an immediate response. Which in some way makes Jaehyun feel like he won the unspecific kind of fight they have just been in the middle of.

On Taeyong's face he sees the sequence of quickly switching expressions until he can't see anything because Taeyong's pressing his lips against Jaehyun's lips and Jaehyun's eyes are closed as he lets his hands get hold of Taeyong's chin and neck. Taeyong opens his mouth. A permission. Somehow, with the paint being smeared against Taeyong's skin and Taeyong sucking on Jaehyun's bottom lips before pulling it, Jaehyun realises that they haven't been this intimate for the last two weeks or so. And then he remembers the reason. And recreating the image of that bathroom, that night, he feels his whole body grow hot.

It's Taeyong who stops the kiss. He takes a deep breath before asking, "Why him of all people? We work together," and his voice sounds genuinely concerned but also like he has no intention of changing Jaehyun's mind.

"Because you want this," Jaehyun responds without thinking. He's almost surprised at how hoarse his voice comes out. "And he's fucking handsome." He's aiming to kiss Taeyong again, but the man turns his head to the side, rather playfully than defensively.

His hands on Jaehyun's neck and fingers in his hair, he says, "A couple days ago you've said that he looks like the mafioso frog from the jazz mice."

Jaehyun lets out a laugh before he can attempt to stop it. "I was angry."

"So what changed?" Taeyong pulls their heads further apart and, accordingly, Jaehyun's hands slide from his neck down to his arms and then waist. "Seriously, Jaehyun, do you really want to do this?"

"I'm not saying I'm going to be great at this, but at least I want to try."

Eyebrows furrowed, Taeyong looks him in the eyes for a longer while, as if believing his persistent stare of expectancy can get the truth out of Jaehyun. Have him take his words back if they didn't reflect his true feelings.

All Jaehyun feels is the beating of his own heart. It's so fast.

"Alright," Taeyong says at last. "But the moment you find it uncomfortable, even a bit, you'll have to tell me immediately."

In a faraway land of green meadows and cumuli on the sky big as mountains, there was once a man called Jaehyun who was about to overcome an obstacle and learn his big lesson...

Jaehyun's standing before the entrance as Yukhei's car turns into the driveway. He has another one of his shirts on, dark violet flowers and sun setting red into the ocean water underneath it. On his nose there is a pair of sunglasses which he pushes into his hair, getting the unruly strands off of his eyes and forehead. He gives Jaehyun a handshake with a half-hug, their shoulders bumping, before they both walk inside the house, nothing out of ordinary.

"That's a place like in a damn fairytale," Yukhei jokes. His voice sounds relaxed and amused, which Jaehyun used to find exasperating but now is quite thankful for.

They start with a bottle of wine on the main room's sofa and Yukhei comments on the views outside the windows, draining his whole glass in one go before pouring himself another round. Taeyong barely takes a few sips and Jaehyun realises it's because he wants to be able to keep his mind sharp and register Jaehyun's every reaction to things that are about to happen. Which is both moving and slightly disappointing. Jaehyun finds himself wanting to have Taeyong do what he pleases. Be absolutely liberated the way he seems to enjoy.

It's perhaps an hour into their meeting when Yukhei takes the first step on behalf of all three of them and leans in to steal a kiss at the corner of Taeyong's lips, with one hand holding the man's chin. It happens in the middle of Jaehyun's monologue, which Yukhei clearly hasn't been listening to, and it catches him off-guard, making him trail off immediately. The atmosphere changes in an instant. In the silence that follows, Jaehyun is able to hear the sound of their lips moving, and his mouth goes dry.

He's sitting right beside the two of them kissing, one hand on the back of the sofa, the other holding his glass of wine, and he sees Taeyong's eyes search for his approval before he opens his mouth to let Yukhei in. Jaehyun nods his head.

He can't say he isn't jealous, knowing that there's another person kissing his boyfriend right now instead of him, but it's the exact feeling of jealousy and irritation, the sense of being denied the initiative and put aside, degraded to the role of a viewer, that makes him dizzy in the head. His eyes catch every detail of how Taeyong's lips move at the pressure of Yukhei's tongue inside of his mouth, how the muscles of his neck tense and Yukhei's fingers dig into his cheek. The kiss lasts for what may be just a brief moment or a couple minutes, and by the end of it, Jaehyun's dick is stiff inside his trousers. He takes another gulp of his wine and puts the glass on the coffee table. The noise makes both men pull apart and look at him.

"What if we now go to the bedroom?"

Yukhei smiles mischievously in response. He stands up from the sofa and offers one hand to help Taeyong get on his feet as well. Feeling talkative all of a sudden, he goes, "I love it when I'm invited into people's private space, you know? That's what really gets me. How I can play with what's not mine. Have all the good stuff but not the serious."

"Do you do that often?" Taeyong asks on the way upstairs and his voice comes out a bit faltering, like he's still overwhelmed by the kiss that has just happened.

"Luckily, yes. I like to tell myself that it's just the vibe that I give. Like I'm sending guys the right message." Jaehyun notices how he strokes Taeyong's hand while holding it. "What about you? What is it about?"

"Taeyong's really into this," Jaehyun provides, before Taeyong has the time to reply.

"What about you?"

"I'm trying to... work on my trust issues. And learn something new."

Yukhei laughs, as if what Jaehyun's just said in his unexpected moment of honesty amused him greatly. "That's the spirit."

The moment they find themselves inside the bedroom and Jaehyun closes the door, for whatever reason, reflexively, Yukhei resumes what he's started and presses another kiss onto Taeyong's lips. They soon fall onto the bed, on top of the fresh sheets prepared just for this purpose. Yukhei's leaning over Taeyong's body, with his knees on either side of it, when he says, "Love the wallpaper. Makes the room very cosy."

Taeyong chuckles, but Jaehyun can tell that he's nervous underneath it. He says, "Thanks."

"So, any requests, boys?" Yukhei asks, straightening his back and proceeding to unbutton his shirt. Jaehyun catches himself forget to breathe for a moment, as he sees it from where he's standing by the door. "You haven't been exactly specific about what we're gonna do."

"Jaehyun wants to watch first," Taeyong explains, just as they have previously established, before Yukhei's arrival, "and he'll join us if he feels like it."

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, Jaehyun slowly walks around the bed, to the armchair where he's planned to take a seat. "What about you?" he asks, as if he's trying to be polite towards a newly met person and learn something about them.

Yukhei makes a laugh. He drops his shirt onto the bed and when he speaks up, it sounds rather like a joke he's making than a confession of what turns him on, "I love it when guys lick my cock clean after I fuck their boyfriends, but that's up to you."

Jaehyun closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down or else, he realises, he might not last long this night.

The next move is made by Taeyong. He raises his both hands and pulls Yukhei down into a kiss, lacing his fingers on Yukhei's neck and keeping him immobile for a moment. Yukhei directs his one hand between their bodies and it sinks underneath Taeyong's shirt. Taeyong's back arches. His eyes are closed now and he frowns.

"You have a good view from there, buddy?" Yukhei asks, and his voice is now raspy with excitement but also humorous. Jaehyun can hear the smile that stretches the man's lips where he's kissing the crook of Taeyong's neck.

Jaehyun says, "You can keep going," and immediately, their bodies shuffle again as Yukhei gets his hand inside Taeyong's trousers and on his crotch.

Taeyong hisses. "Fuck."

"You should totally keep talking," Yukhei comments, breathless, speaking to Jaehyun as if they were having a phone call rather than were in the same room, "Your boy loves that shit."

Afterwards, things seem to go faster. Yukhei takes all of Taeyong's clothes off, throwing them to the side mindlessly, shirt, trousers, socks and underwear at the very end. When Taeyong's already naked and his cock is lying heavy on his stomach, Yukhei makes a short performance of undressing himself, perfectly self-confident and proud. Jaehyun admits he has things to be proud about indeed. The man's body is in great shape, more like that of a model rather than an editor working hours hunched over his laptop in search of missing commas. Taeyong didn't make a bad choice.

One thing Jaehyun realises is that now he relishes the jealousy Yukhei's body makes him feel. At this point, he's painfully hard in his jeans but isn't planning to act on it, not for now. The idea that his own cock isn't the centre of attention turns out to be something that arouses him a lot more than he would have expected or would want to admit, and he wants to stick to it and see where it takes him. And he's just so damn more interested in watching his boyfriend than touching himself.

They keep the eye contact, he and Taeyong, as Yukhei puts the condom on and gives himself a few strokes for good measure. It's weirdly intense, intimate, like something he's never done with Taeyong before, despite how many things they've already tried, most of which at Taeyong's explicit request. Jaehyun has always considered himself rather vanilla, like there was nothing more that he could possibly want. Taeyong was the one seeking new discoveries, perhaps for both of them. Perhaps it's never been just about him.

With Yukhei's fingers inside him, one by one, Taeyong's still looking at Jaehyun, lips open but no sound. It seems like it doesn't have to do with sex only. It's a big personal event, a mile stone of their relationship, or so Jaehyun thinks of it right now, as it unfolds.

The moment Yukhei slides his cock all the way inside, Taeyong on his knees and facing the armchair, Taeyong's eyes shut close and immediately after pop open to look for Jaehyun's reaction. In the way they shine, in the open mouth of his that looks like it's midway through a moan yet silent, Jaehyun can see that it feels so damn good. Taeyong's so into this. And it gets Jaehyun even more turned on.

Yukhei leans in, his chest to Taeyong's back, mouth to Taeyong's ear, and without moving yet, completely immobile inside of him, he goes, "Does it feel good?"

It's Jaehyun who responds with a hoarse, "He loves it."

Hearing the words, Taeyong closes his eyes and lets out a surprisingly loud and dirty moan that Jaehyun only now realises he's been holding up until this point. Like he's been waiting for Jaehyun's final approval, so patient and careful, in control of himself just for Jaehyun. The idea makes him shudder and he changes his pose in the armchair, finally reaching to his trousers to unzip his fly.

"Look at me," he tells Taeyong. Yukhei seems eager to play along, pushing his fingers into Taeyong's hair and then pulling his head up so that the man's looking straight into Jaehyun's face. "You're so beautiful right now, baby," Jaehyun coos.

Taeyong exhales violently and only then Yukhei, probably just as turned on by Jaehyun's words, starts moving. "Tell him to moan for it," Yukhei breathes out, shakily, his whole body tensed and moving almost aggressively, "I want to hear it all."

And as Taeyong moans, Jaehyun stands up from the sofa to come kiss him.

When Yukhei comes out of the bathroom, he's already dressed up, finishing to button up his tawdry red and violet shirt, the silver rings back on his fingers.

"Are you leaving already?" Jaehyun asks, his fingers still brushing Taeyong's hair, softly, lazily, Taeyong's head propped against his chest, body snuggled by Jaehyun's side. They are now both looking at Yukhei from where they're lying in bed, covered with a blanket.

Done with the buttons, Yukhei moves onto fixing his hair in the mirror by the bathroom door, just a few steps from Jaehyun's armchair. He smiles, partly to himself in the mirror, partly to Jaehyun and Taeyong, and it's a proud smile of someone who's just achieved a goal that they set for themselves.

"I think you need some time together now, just the two of you," he says, and he sounds unexpectedly thoughtful. "I'll be going."

He walks to their bed and kneels on top of it, leaning in to kiss them goodbye, Taeyong first, a soft, brief touch of lips. When it's Jaehyun's turn, Jaehyun allows himself to prolong it a little and runs his fingers through Yukhei's hair, like it's the last occasion to prove who's in control of the situation. Yukhei hums satisfied into his mouth, as if obedient at Jaehyun's request. When their lips part and Yukhei stands up from the bed, Taeyong is still looking at Jaehyun's lips where Yukhei's mouth has just been, mesmerised.

"I can't believe we did this," he says in a low voice, almost like he's intending for the words to be heard by Jaehyun only.

Yukhei responds nevertheless, "Yeah, we did and it was a real good time, boys."' He's back in front of the mirror, tucking the shirt into his jeans and then zipping the fly. "If you ever feel like doing it again, all three of us, you know where to find me." The tone in which he says the words makes it sound like he's a superhero in a book: coming with help when he's needed and then returning to his superhero tower. Or at least that's what Jaehyun thinks of.

Taeyong rolls his eyes with amusement. "Yeah, see you tomorrow in the office."

Yukhei salutes with two fingers pressed to his forehead. "I know the way out," he assures them before leaving the bedroom. He closes the door behind himself.

For a moment they stay silent, as if waiting for Yukhei's steps against the cracking stairs where the white paint is peeling to die away. Waiting for Yukhei to leave the big house on a big cliff so they're alone once again and free to gossip about their co-worker.

Taeyong changes his position; now his chin is on Jaehyun's chest and he's looking up at him, mischievous twinkle in his eyes which Jaehyun's planning to ask about. "You're hard again," Taeyong says.

"You weren't supposed to notice."

"I'm lying on top of you. It's pressing against my thigh."

Jaehyun's fingers tuckle a strand of Taeyong's hair behind his ear. "What are we gonna do about it?"

Taeyong lifts one hand, takes Jaehyun's hand and laces their fingers together between their faces. "I think we need to see who's better at this, you or the editor." Then, he climbs on top of Jaehyun, the blanket sliding off of his naked body. "Try to impress me."

**Author's Note:**

> angèle - je veux tes yeux.


End file.
